


Time After Time

by quietlycrash



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Angst, Character Death, F/F, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Major Character Injury, Suicide, War
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-11
Updated: 2016-02-11
Packaged: 2018-05-19 19:47:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,364
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5979025
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/quietlycrash/pseuds/quietlycrash
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>One choice has infinite outcomes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Time After Time

**Author's Note:**

> This is the most angsty thing I have ever written, and for that I apologize.

**One.**

The story we all know. 

He offers her the deal, and she accepts it. The alliance is broken, but all of her people are safe. Clarke kills all of the Mountain Men, and then she leaves. There is still war. 

**Two.**

He offers her the deal, and she accepts it. The alliance is broken, but all of her people are safe. 

*

“Well, well, well, what do we have here?” Clarke hears the voice of one of the scientists behind her and her hand darts to her belt to grab her knife, but she’s not quick enough. He pins her arms against her sides and presses the cold barrel of a gun to her head. 

Clarke closes her eyes in frustration. She grits her teeth, her mind spinning and trying to find a way to fix this. Bellamy is in the control room waiting for her, but she can’t tell him to pull the switch without alerting the scientist to what they’re doing. 

She stomps down hard on his boot with her heel, and he grunts and loosens his grip just enough for her to slip away. She sprints to the door to the control room door, and closes it behind her. She leans against it with all of her weight. 

“Pull the switch, Bellamy!” 

“It’s not ready yet, Clarke, and people will die if we pull it now.” His answer is calm even though his eyes are darting around the room as if looking for a threat. He was always a soldier. 

“Bellamy, we have to pull it now.” She pleads to him. “One of them saw me, and he’s gone to tell the others.”

“What? Why didn’t you stop him?” Bellamy sounds panicked now, their last plans seeming more and more futile. 

Monty’s fingers are shaking on the keys where he’s trying to override the system, and she sees him glance at Bellamy out of the corner of his eyes. 

“I had no choice. When is it going to be ready, Monty?” Clarke steels herself for what they’re going to have to do. They won’t be able to get the innocent people to safety, but they won’t die. They just have to pull the switch. 

“Just a few more minutes.” Monty’s voice cracks in the middle of the sentence. His forehead is dripping with sweat, and Clarke isn’t sure whether it’s from nerves or guilt. 

They hear the march of heavy boots against the concrete too soon. She turns to look at Monty with panicked eyes, and he shakes his head. 

*

They don’t even try to break down the door, they just shoot straight through it. They don’t need those three bodies, they have plenty of marrow for all of their people. 

All of the Sky People die, and Mountain Men leave the mountain. The war becomes worse. 

**Three.**

He offers her the deal, and she accepts it. The alliance is broken, but all of her people are safe. She sneaks away from her guard as they march back to Polis. She heads back to the mountain to try to find Clarke. 

*

“Clarke.” She says, and prides herself on how little emotion her voice reveals. 

Clarke whips around from where she stands guard in the corridor, her blond hair falling into her face. She frowns. 

“What are you doing here Lexa?” She grips the knife in her belt so tightly her knuckles turn white, and Lexa feels a pang of regret about the choices she has made. She had to make them. 

“I came back to help you.” She replies earnestly.

Several emotions flicker over Clarke’s face. Her frown deepens before softening, and Lexa can see the forgiveness in her eyes. She opens her mouth to say something more, but Clarke’s face fills with fear and Lexa is confused until she hears the gunshot. 

Everything is blinding pain, but she hears Clarke scream. Clarke throws her knife into the Mountain Man’s head, and then falls to her knees next to Lexa. She is crying. 

“We can fix this.” She tells Lexa, her beautiful eyes glistening. 

“No.” Lexa replies with great effort. “My time has come.” She wants to shut her eyes and end this pain, but Clarke is so beautiful and she cannot bring herself to stop looking. 

“No.” Clarke is crying earnestly now, and she shakes her head. “Please, Lexa, don’t go. We need you. I need you.” 

Lexa feels herself slipping away before she can reply. The edges of her reality go hazy. As everything fades into blackness, she hears Clarke sob as she tells Lexa “your fight is over.” 

*

Bellamy kills all of the mountain men, and Clarke leaves. The war becomes worse. 

**Four.**

He offers her the deal, and she spits in his face. The alliance is intact, but the attack on the mountain fails. Clarke can’t bring herself to kill all of the Mountain Men, and then she leaves. There is still war. 

**Five.**

He offers her the deal. Lexa was never good at decisions that put her heart and her head at war. She accepts because it is her duty as the leader of her people, and she cries angrily in her tent for hours afterwards. 

She never knows if the war continues. She can’t bring herself to watch. 

**Six.**

He offers her the deal, and she kills him. The attack on the mountain proceeds as planned. Some of the sky people donate their bone marrow to the innocent Mountain Men. Lexa is not sure if any of them are truly innocent, but there is no more war. 

The Sky People join the coalition and together they defeat the Ice Nation. Lexa asks Clarke if she would like to bond, and Clarke asks Lexa if she would like to marry her. 

*

“Why are your eyes closed?” She asks Clarke, confused. Clarke stands in front of her in a white dress, smiling with her eyes squeezed tightly shut. 

“It’s bad luck to see the bride on the wedding day.” Clarke grins again, and Lexa rolls her eyes. 

“Why did you not tell me that before I looked at you?” She knows that Clarke can hear the smile in her voice. 

“I thought we agreed to keep our traditions separate.” 

“We did.” Lexa smiles and leans in to kiss Clarke gently. “I love you.” 

“I love you, too. This is the happiest day of my life.” Clarke replies softly, leaning in to kiss Lexa again. 

Lexa pulls away as she hears a commotion outside. She calls out to her guard to ask what is happening, but before she can process the shouting, a knife flies past her. 

Clarke chokes, and her eyes startle open as blood spews from her abdomen. She looks down at the knife, as if confused. 

“Clarke? No, no, no.” Lexa feels tears start to stream down her cheeks as she holds Clarke and they sink to the ground. Clarke looks at her with fear in her eyes before Lexa sees her disappear from her body. “Your fight is over.” She whispers as he clutches Clarke’s body to her chest. 

*

Lexa kills all of the remaining Mountain Men, and their descendants. She does not care if it was the work of one rogue man, she will never show pity again. The Sky People are at war with her people again in revenge, and Lexa falls not long after the war begins. 

**Seven.**

He offers her the deal, and Lexa feels the weight of a million universes on her shoulders. She can see the ghost of all of her decisions dance around her. She shuts her eyes tightly, and accepts. The alliance is broken, but all of her people are safe. She may never see Clarke again, but at least she will be known as a good leader. 

Clarke kills all of the Mountain Men, and then herself. There is still war. 

*

“Your fight is over.” Lexa whispers through tears as she kneels at the site of Clarke’s grave. There are flowers placed there every day by the Sky People. She stands and turns to leave with her guard, and wonders if there was a decision she could have made to end up happy with Clarke.


End file.
